Raven Flight

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Facing My Mission

I stepped into the room that existed beyond the wall, and reassured myself that nothing dangerous was happening presently. I glanced around to take in my surroundings, but it didn't last for long; I was right in my presumption of it being dark. The air had a thick, humid weight to it, and in the distance droplets of water echoed as they splashed from the high ceiling into puddles. Above me came the sound of choruses of soft twitters, and the occasional flapping of wings that faded into the distance. The clues all pointed to my being left in a large cavern, with unknown enemies, and so far, no route of escape.

Holding my arms out in front of me, and taking small steps, I started forward hoping that I wouldn't run into over-hanging stalactites. Every few steps I stopped and listened, somewhere deeper into the cave small animals raced back and forth, causing small scrapes of claws on the rocks.

I took a deep breath and continued forward, just to plunge my leg knee deep in water, and what was probably bat guano. My face contorted in disgust. I backed out of the crevice, and carefully felt my way around it. After a few minutes of hopelessly wandering through things I didn't want to know about, my pant-leg caught on the rough edge of a rock, and sent me sprawling to the ground and onto a loose stone, that sank into the ground at the touch of pressure.

Knowing it might as well have been a booby-trap, I hurried back as far as I could in the short time that the floor before me started to crumble. When a fairly large gap laid before me, a large glowing screen started to rise out of the floor on the other side of the chasm. On the screen was a large computer animated woman who soon started to speak to me.

“Hidden Hint: 2 of 5, Tool Station.” The computer said, and I almost jumped for joy at what I had discovered. In the glow of the screen, I quickly looked around to see my surroundings. A cave full of drop-offs, step-ups, stalactites and stalagmites stretched as far as I could see in all directions, and I was surprised that my feet had found the right path so far.

Just as I started to turn back to the screen, my eye caught on a mechanical table zooming in toward me from far to the left. I stepped back just in time, when it touched down in front of me. On it lie several of the best of different types of climbing, hiking, and lighting equipment. There was everything I would ever need to make it through the cavern.

In my joy I grabbed at the tools, and the computer voice screamed out and echoed through the cavern, bouncing back from each wall and painfully hitting my ears.

“STOP! I have not given you instructions!” She yelled, much like a loud drill instructor, “You may choose one set from each of the categories: Climbing, Hiking, and Lighting. Choose wisely, for you'll need all of what you pick,” I looked back down at the table and studied what each of the packs had to give me.

From the Climbing category I chose a pack that included two ropes, a helmet, and equipment such as a harness to tie the rope to. From the Hiking, I chose a pack consisting of thick hiking boots that had an extra layer of rubber on the outside, and that tied up to almost my knees. It also included a large, sturdy, but light weight backpack, and a long walking stick to not only support me but also to check in front of me if the ground was stable. Among the Lighting packs, I picked one that enclosed a clip-on waist lantern, a long lasting flashlight, and several small packages of batteries and light bulbs.

Once I had grabbed all that I would, the table rose from the ground once more and flew out of sight. With one last “Good luck!” the computer screen disappeared into the floor, and back to where it had first come from.

I watched them vanish, then sat down to replace my soggy sneakers with the heavy-duty hiking boots. I clipped the lantern to my belt loop then stuffed everything else other than the flashlight and walking stick into the backpack for easy storage and carrying. Finally, with some hint of where to head, I marched off with renewed vigor, avoiding the newly made hole in the floor that had no bottom, that I could see.